1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a process for preparing 1,2-dichloroethane by direct chlorination.
2. The Prior Art
The preparation of 1,2-dichloroethane (EDC below) by reacting ethylene with chlorine, which is generally referred to as direct chlorination, takes place with the liberation of heat of reaction. For better control of the reaction and for dissipating the heat of reaction it is common to use circulating liquid EDC. For this purpose liquid reaction mixture or crude EDC is taken off from the reaction chamber and the heat of reaction is utilized by way of a heat exchanger to operate distillation columns, for example. Such processes are known, for example, from EP-A-471 987 (ZA 91/6491), DE-A-4029314 and DE-A-41 33 810. From these documents it is also known that particularly intensive mixing of the reactants with the circulating EDC can be ensured by means of appropriate devices such as static mixers U.S. Pat. No. 4,873,384 describes a process for preparing EDC from ethylene and chlorine in liquid EDC in which the vapor of the reaction medium serves to recover some of the latent heat. U.S. Pat. No. 4,873,384 describes a process for preparing EDC from ethylene and chlorine in liquid EDC in which the vapor of the reaction medium serves to recover some of the latent heat.